Ruha Benjamin
LightNews LightNews
banner
ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin
@ruha9.bsky.social
40K followers 800 following 180 posts

✍🏽 • RACE AFTER TECHNOLOGY: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code • VIRAL JUSTICE: How We Grow the World We Want • IMAGINATION: A Manifesto 📚www.ruhabenjamin.com

Videos

Ruha Benjamin is a sociologist and professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. She works on the relationship between innovation and equity, particularly the intersection of race, justice, and technology. Benjamin authored People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013), Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), and Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want (2022). .. more

Biology 32%
Public Health 14%
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 18
My latest on “The New Artificial Intelligentsia,” part of the Legacies of Eugenics series in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Thanks to all who read + share! lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
The New Artificial Intelligentsia | Los Angeles Review of Books
In the fifth essay of the Legacies of Eugenics series, Ruha Benjamin explores how AI evangelists wrap their self-interest in a cloak of humanistic concern.
lareviewofbooks.org

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 1d
Sooo necessary!!👏🏾 @alexhanna.bsky.social, @schock.cc, Veronyka Gimenes, Dia Kayyali + Elijah MacKinnon🤌🏾

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Meredith Broussard

mozilla.org
Mozilla @mozilla.org · 2d
Imagination is resistance, @ruha9.bsky.social reminds us that, " we need to reject the gospel that says technology is inevitable, that the train has left the station... In an error of automated bullshit, it’s time to become bullshit detectors,"
#MozFest

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

alexhanna.bsky.social
Alex Hanna @alexhanna.bsky.social · 3d
Opening up #MozFest, @ruha9.bsky.social asks us "who owns the future?" but also problematizing the notion of ownership. Need to shift the question, expanding the vision of how we imagine new futures.
A projected screen. A picture of Nichelle Nichols, the late actress who played Uhura, sitting in the Captain's seat on the Starship Enterprise. Superimposed on the picture are the words in multiple colors: "who owns the future?"

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

schock.cc
Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · 3d
Nabiha Syed and @ruha9.bsky.social in conversation on the main stage at #MozFest
A photo of nabiha Syed and Ruha Benjamin on stage at MozFest 2025. The background is orange and the heads of a large audience are visible.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

tessa.germnetwork.com
Tessa Brown @tessa.germnetwork.com · 3d
“In an era of automated bullshit,” Dr. @ruha9.bsky.social asks us to tell the truth! Starting with the fact that innovation often depends on exploitation… so social progress can never be taken for granted.

What are we building? For whom? With whom?

#MozFest
Dr Ruha Benjamin at Mozfest

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

heyitsseher.bsky.social
seher @heyitsseher.bsky.social · 14d
Mozilla Festival 2025 is Nov 7-9 in Barcelona w/ 500+ session hosts, 200+ experiences, talks, labs, forums, film screenings, & installations.

Keynotes @xychelsea.tv @audreyt.org @ruha9.bsky.social

If you haven't gotten your festival badge, use code MOZSEHER 🎟️ @mozilla.org www.mozillafestival.org

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

chanda.blacksky.app
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 18d
I‘m so grateful to the advance readers like @ruha9.bsky.social who spent time with my book and understood the work I hoped it would do. The principled creative work that Ruha does is an incredible model 🖖🏽

Preorder The Edge of Space-Time today:
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817...
"See the cosmos not just through equations, but through the rhythms of music, the textures of art, and the power of storytelling." -Ruha Benjamin, author of Race After Technology The Edge of Space-Time particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie Prescod-Weinstein

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Steve Peers, Juan Cole , and 4 more

apnews.com
The Associated Press @apnews.com · 22d
BREAKING: Israel strikes southern Gaza in test of ceasefire.
Israel strikes Gaza in first major test of ceasefire
Israel said it struck Hamas militants in Gaza on Sunday after they shot at Israeli soldiers who were inside the area that is still under Israeli control, according to the conditions of the Oct. 10 ceasefire.
bit.ly

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 24d
HAPPENING NOW.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Lesley Bartlett

aaup.org
AAUP @aaup.org · 25d
Join AAUP's National Teach-In on Trump's Loyalty Oaths!

Tomorrow, Oct 17pm at 2pmET on Zoom. Be there!

Register at link below👇

#AcademicSky #DefendHigherEd
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: National Teach-In on Loyalty Oaths. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
The Trump administration has imposed unprecedented and highly politicized regulations on institutions of higher education, pressured them with coercive funding threats, extorted promises to fall in li...
us06web.zoom.us

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 26d
UPDATE: Cornell Drops Its Discrimination Case Against a Pro-Palestine Professor After Public Outcry:

“I think the pressure of the community and the outpouring of outrage for what happened to Cheyfitz contributed immensely.”

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 3
WE STAND WITH YOU, EMAN!

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin

fdsignifier.bsky.social
Grumpy dad energy @fdsignifier.bsky.social · Oct 3
Ice is kidnapping black citizens in Chicago in the middle of the night.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Juan Cole, Nancy T. Ammerman , and 5 more

mskellymhayes.bsky.social
Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · Oct 3
@emanabdelhadi.bsky.social tells these cops about themselves.

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 2
Thankuu so much for reading &
sharing, Lauren!

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 1
globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker/
Flotilla Tracker - Global Movement to Gaza
globalsumudflotilla.org

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Oct 1
All eyes on the Global Sumud Flotilla—livestream:

www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...
24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA
YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Timnit Gebru, Scott L. Greer, Lisa Diedrich

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 30
Yall please go watch @merriam-webster.com’s new AI ad😅

youtu.be/RvQnl3O0D3c?...
LLM
YouTube video by Merriam-Webster
youtu.be

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 30
“This trial exposed their true aim: to intimidate and silence anyone who dares oppose them,” he added. “If we fail to fight back, Trump’s thought police won’t stop at pro-Palestinian voices – they will come for anyone who speaks out.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Judge issues blistering opinion against Trump policy to deport pro-Palestinian students
Judge rules non-citizens have the same free speech rights as US citizens under the first amendment
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Marc Lynch, Jan W. Mueller , and 9 more

annabower.bsky.social
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Sep 30
Young’s opinion, which rules that the Trump admin illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation, is absolutely scathing.

“In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police…ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it.”
And there's the issue of masks. This Court has listened carefully to the reasons given by Öztürk's captors for masking- up and has heard the same reasons advanced by the defendant Todd Lyons, Acting Director of ICE. It rejects this testimony as disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable. ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Small wonder ICE often seems to need our respected military to guard them as they go about implementing our immigration laws. It should be noted that our troops do not ordinarily wear masks. Can you imagine a masked marine? It is a matter of honor -- and honor still matters. To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it "We can not escape history," Lincoln righty said. "[It] will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation." Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message to Congress (Dec. 1, 1862) . Perhaps we're now afraid to stick our necks out. If the distinguished Homeland Security intelligence agency can be weaponized to squelch the free speech rights of a small, hapless group of non-citizens in our midst, so too can the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the audit divisions of the I.R.s. and the Social Security Administration be unconstitutionally [98]

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 29
Keep me posted!

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 29
AAUP: “…the admin’s action against Prof Cheyfitz has occurred in the context of external political pressure n escalated demands nationwide that higher ed institutions restrict what can be said or expressed on campus, especially in relation to the war in Gaza.”

*incl. calling it a f*#%n genocide

Reposted by Michael W. Kraus

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 29
So, at the very least, we all need to be joining or starting an AAUP chapter:

www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...
Find a Chapter
A list of AAUP chapters, both unionized and nonunionized. (You can also see a list of just union chapters.)
www.aaup.org

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 29
As someone currently on probation at Princeton, what also stands out here is the sham faculty governance on display:

Faculty panel reviews all the evidence n decides there is no grounds for suspension.

Admin overrules their decision n Provost Kavita Bala calls for significant disciplinary action.

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Rosemary A. Joyce, American Library Association , and 1 more

nkalamb.bsky.social
Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Sep 29
The whole outrageous story:

www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Cornell Cut Classes by a Pro-Palestinian Professor After an Israeli Student’s Discrimination Complaint
Dr. Eric Cheyfitz, who has taught at Cornell for more than two decades, claims the university is attempting to silence him as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
www.thenation.com

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Marc Lynch, Nandita Sharma , and 25 more

nkalamb.bsky.social
Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Sep 29
Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.
Early last semester, Droubi said, students began approaching Cheyfitz with complaints that a graduate student in the “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” class appeared to be recording them, possibly to “gather their names and comments” and intimidate them. “We believe that a student came to the course for the sole reason of surveilling and potentially harming students in the class,” Droubi said. “That ended up proving itself to be true because multiple students came forward and shared their concerns with Professor Cheyfitz.” Cheyfitz said one Palestinian student quit the class after telling him she felt upset and frightened. Current Issue Cover of October 2025 Issue October 2025 Issue According to Cheyfitz, the graduate student often steered conversations away from the assigned readings—which at that point mostly focused on definitions of genocide and international law on Indigenous rights—to defend Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza and argue with others in the class. “He clearly had not done the readings,” Cheyfitz said. “It was disruptive.” Cheyfitz said he met with the graduate student in late January and spoke to him about concerns from his classmates. During the conversation, he asked the graduate student to drop the course, and by the next class, he did, Cheyfitz said. The graduate student, Oren Renard, a PhD candidate in computer science whose identity was confirmed by other students in the class, previously served in Israel’s elite military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, according to his LinkedIn profile.

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 28
*a riff off Lucille Clifton’s poem “why some people be mad at me sometimes”—

they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories
and I keep on remembering
mine

Reposted by Ruha Benjamin, Melanie O’Brien

ali-alkhatib.com
ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · Sep 28
hey, i'm gonna say more tomorrow, but i'm starting a reading group for "AI skeptics" - it's called "AI Skeptics Reading Group"

i am not great at names; please suggest alternatives if you're creative.

i'll be sending an email tomorrow, but here are a few things to get you started

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

ruha9.bsky.social
Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · Sep 28
they ask me to imagine
but they want me to imagine
their futures
and i keep imagining
mine.
Ruha’s hand pointing to pink graffiti that reads “Fuck ICE” Ruha standing in front of Trump tower in Chicago with these words of Octavia E. Butler overlaying the image: “Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery" Ruha standing in front of tall historic building in Chicago with these words overlaying the image. they ask me to imagine but they want me to imagine their futures and i keep imagining mine.